Knitty Gritty secrets.

People ask me all the time...

"So Dave, you worked on DIY's hit show Knitty Gritty. You worked with the queen bee knitter Vickie Howell and all the members of the Austin Craft Mafia on DIY's Stylelicious premiering in April. What tips can you give me.. a first time knitter?"

Here's a step by step sweater project full of "insider" tips from us "behind the scene" pros to make people like Vickie and the guests on Knitty Gritty look good.

Step One- materials.It's best to use yarn. It turns out using embroidery thread is bad so that explained alot of my initial problems knitting for the first time.For guys I suggest picking out really cool and huge knitting needles because you know the old saying..."the bigger the knitting needle...."

Step 2- basic knit patternHere is my "insider tip". Using the needles is just showing off. Knitting is just a series of fancy knots. Throw away the needles and started knotting.Step 3- it's starting to come together.

Forget step 2. Making the fancy knots is hard and it gets messy. It's best to just focus on making the rows. A sweater is, after all, just row after row of fancy knots. No one really looks at the fancy knots. So focus on making rows of yarn.

First, untangle everything from step 2 and loop the yarn between stuff. A doorknob and desk lamp works good.Next bunch 20-25 strands of yarn with "zip ties" available at any home improvement store.Step 4- a finished sweater.

Ok, just forget steps 2 and 3. A real waste of time. Go and buy 75 balls of yarn in your favorite color and lot's of extra hot glue sticks.Hot glue all the balls of yarn to an old sweater in the closet.Well, there you go... a beautiful hand made sweater to keep you warm and be the envy of all your friends.